Key events
At issue during today’s arguments at the first pretrial conference in former president Donald Trump’s criminal case concerning the mishandling of classified documents is a the Classified Information Procedures Act, or Cipa.
The 1980 statute governs how classified information is handled by the parties in a criminal prosecution. The law aims to strike a balance between a defendant’s right to access evidence that prosecutors intend to use in a case, against the government’s interest in safeguarding sensitive and secret information, according to AP.
Cases tried under Cipa legally require more precautions and tend to take more time to get to trial than a typical criminal case, according to the Washington Post. This means they can be extremely beneficial to any defendant seeking to delay a trial.
Ahead of Tuesday’s session, special counsel Jack Smith’s team asked US district judge Aileen Cannon on Monday to enter a protective order that would, in part, restrict the ability of defense lawyers to share with Trump and his co-defendant and aide, Walt Nauta, classified information in the case.
In seeking the order, prosecutors wrote that defense lawyers have told them “that they intend to object to certain provisions of the proposed protective order, but did not specify any such provisions.”
Trump document case judge may signal whether trial could be pushed beyond 2024 election
Good morning, US politics blog readers. US district court judge Aileen Cannon, the federal judge presiding over Donald Trump’s trial for allegedly mishandling classified documents, is scheduled to meet with prosecutors and the former president’s attorneys for the first time this afternoon.
The public hearing, set to take place at Cannon’s courthouse in Fort Pierce, Florida, is the first one she has held in the case that began when federal prosecutors, led by special counsel Jack Smith, indicted the former president last month. Earlier court sessions were held in Miami by federal magistrate judges.
Tuesday’s session is expected to focus on administrative procedures for handling classified government materials, but today’s hearing could also provide insight into whether Cannon – a Trump appointee – will push to resolve the trial before or after the 2024 presidential election. Cannon previously gained significant public attention when she intervened last year in the Justice Department’s investigation.
The hearing is scheduled to begin at 2pm EST.
Meanwhile, a US national is believed to be in North Korean custody after crossing into the country “without authorization”, according to the US-led UN Command overseeing the area.
The body tweeted that the person was on a tour of the border village of Panmunjom – which is located inside the demilitarized zone (DMZ) – and that the UN Command was working with its North Korean counterparts to resolve the incident. It gave no further details on the person’s identity or why he crossed the border.
Here’s what else we’re watching today:
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10am: House majority leader Steve Scalise, House majority whip Tom Emmer and Republican conference chair Elise Stefanik will hold a news conference after a closed GOP meeting.
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10.45 am: House Democratic Caucus chair Pete Aguilar, vice chair Ted Lieu, Mark Takano, Raul Ruiz and Mikie Sherrill will hold a news conference after the House Democrats’ meeting.
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1.15pm: President Joe Biden will meet with Israeli President Isaac Herzog in the Oval Office.
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1.30pm: White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre will hold a briefing.
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3pm: The Senate will meet to take up Rachel Bloomekatz’s nomination to become a US circuit judge. There will also be a vote on a motion to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to the National Defense Authorization Act.
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4pm: Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis will be interviewed by CNN’s Jake Tapper, his first discussion with a major news organization other than Fox News.
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5pm: Biden will meet with Cardinal Matteo Zuppi to discuss Ukraine.
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